


Side by Side

by FiveStillAlive



Series: Trickster [1]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-02-04 21:20:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12779745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiveStillAlive/pseuds/FiveStillAlive
Summary: Mostly Loki contemplating his manipulative love with Thor, plus a bit of sex.Pre-movies.(This story works fine without the rest of the series.)





	Side by Side

**Author's Note:**

> Holy fuck, y'all. I've been writing fics for years, but not for this fandom (probably shows) and usually my stories NEVER END, so I can't post them. Then this thing just... popped out. So I'm posting it now, before I start expanding it into a giant unpostable mass!

Loki had a strict rule. He never ever slept with Thor just for fun.

It was an easy enough rule to follow. He always had half a dozen schemes in the air, any number of which could benefit from manipulating his brother. But it was an important rule, because sex with his brother was great fun.

Thor was just so... eager. So effusively enthusiastic and proud and earnest. And a show off.

When he needed to, he let Thor know exactly who was in control, in a way obvious enough to get through his thick skull. More often he let Thor think it was his idea. Made Thor seduce him and convince him. He was certain he could even make him get forceful with Loki, if he needed his brother to feel dirty and conflicted and uncertain afterward.

He didn't want to use that last trick. He liked tricking his brother, and rubbing those victories in Thor's face. He liked Thor to know when he was bested. He did not like to make Thor feel dirty. The sanctimonious bastard would actually change his behavior to avoid the guilt, and Loki certainly didn't want his brother to refuse to bed him any more.

Besides. If he was... entirely honest with himself, he liked his brother's cleanness. He tried to tell himself he liked it because it was such an exploitable weakness, and that was certainly fun, but... he cherished it. He enjoyed defeating his brother, yes, but he did not ever want to destroy him.

So he seduced, or tricked his brother into seducing him, and played Thor like a puppet. He loved him and betrayed him and won him back with a smile, always withholding the easy affection Thor craved, always making him work for it. He let Thor bully him about when it suited him, so Thor would always come to him for help. He would swoop in to save his brother one minute, and leave him to die the next, so Thor never took him for granted.

The only problem in all this was that sometimes Loki wanted his brother for no reason at all.

Loki had been studying the history of one of their trading partners, scheming, when Thor had pulled him away to fight giants. Loki had been carefully cultivating Thor's trust for weeks for an entirely separate scheme, so it was best he go fight giants with him. He was on his very best behavior, and only joked about feeding one of the other warriors to giant lizards as a distraction a little bit. He let his brother think he'd abandoned them for a few seconds during a crucial moment in battle, then led a herd of the giant lizards trampling over the giant's camp. Thor would trust him all the more, after that moment of doubt.

When they returned to Asgard, Loki tried to slip free, back to his studies. Fighting giants was entertaining enough, but drinking and singing afterward was tedious. None of the songs glorified him properly. But as soon as he tried to veer off from the group, Thor clapped a cheerful and quite determined hand on his shoulder, and steered him back toward the great hall.

"Loki, come! This is your victory as well! You must celebrate!"

"Oh no. You killed the leader, this victory is yours." he didn't much try to hide his polite disdain. "All the songs will be about you."

"They will sing about you! We'll tell them how cleverly you tricked a hundred giant lizards, and disrupted the giants' charge!"

He meant it. Honestly, Thor was so accustomed to Loki's ways that he forgot how unenthusiastic most Asgardians were about cleverness and tricks in their heroic tales. "Yes, I'm sure that will make an inspiring ballad." He sighed, resigned, as Thor dragged him into the noisy room. People were already getting drunk. Well, perhaps he could cause some trouble, at least.

But Thor seemed determined to keep him close, and pushed him down into the chair beside his at the head table. "You are plotting something."

Loki actually blinked in surprise, before recovering himself. "Me? I'm hurt, brother. What would I be plotting?"

"I don't know. But you were much too nice to Gazdof!"

"I barely said a word to Gazdof!"

"Exactly!" Thor grabbed two mugs off a passing tray, and slammed one down in front of him. "You hate Gazdof!"

"I do hate Gazdof." Loki agreed. Thor was so damn pleased with himself! Loki's scheme had hinged on Thor arguing in his defense, refusing to believe his betrayal, for a few crucial minutes, buying Loki enough time to make off with... oh, any number of treasures would fit his requirements. Now that entire line of planning was out.

"Exactly! You never pass up a chance to torment him, but you did today. You are plotting something!"

So damn pleased with himself. Loki crossed his arms dramatically, and looked away from his brother. "Fine. Yes!"

Thor grinned triumphantly for a minute, then it faltered. "Well? What?"

"It hardly matters now."

Thor looked disappointed for a moment, then grinned. "No it does not!" He clapped an enthusiastic hand on Loki's thigh.

Ah. Well. Yes, of course. Thor usually returned from battle with some trophy. This time he had returned with a victory over Loki. He would think that quite the trophy.

That certainly couldn't be allowed. He sometimes let Thor fuck him after actually catching him at something. It let Thor think he was winning, and strengthened Thor's infinite capacity to forgive Loki, and Thor never loved Loki more than when he thought he could fix him. But he hadn't actually caught him at anything this time. Going to bed with him now would be a clear violation of The Rule.

He brushed Thor's hand away.

\--------

A few hours later, they were both... a bit drunk.

He had gotten multiple verses in the ballad of their victory over the giants, and he'd managed to cause a drama between high ranking lovers without his brother noticing his hand in it, even though Thor was still glued to his side, and a few wide-eyed young women had been more interested in his magic than Thor's story of ripping a giant's head off, which was gratifying. Now the party was reaching its peak, just full of drunk, easily manipulated idiots, and Loki was... having fun.

"Loki!" A house lord's oldest son was approaching him. A large warrior. Loki frantically tried to think of what he might have done to anger him recently. But he flopped heavily into the chair beside him. "You... drove one hundred giant lizards!"

Oh. Well. "Yes. Several dozen, anyway."

"You are braver than I thought! That's an impressive..." He paused drunkenly, to collect his thoughts. "An impressive feat!"

Perhaps he wouldn't need Thor's trust. One of the treasures he could use was guarded by this oaf's house. He leaned forward, smiling at the fool. "Do you think so, Lord?"

"No doubt! I've fought those vile creatures, and they are fearful enemies! You must come to my hall, and tell my mother and father of your victory!"

"What an intri-" Thor's hand clapped onto his shoulder, almost holding his neck, and yanked him back. Ow. He leaned over Loki's shoulder.

"Samson! It is good to see you! I think Greyvale is about to break your record!" He nodded toward a table that was cheering over arm wrestling.

"Oh no he won't!" The warrior lurched up, and stomped over to the other table.

"Brother. How am I to make friends, if you won't even let me accept such kind honors?"

"You can't have The Golden Sphere, Loki."

"Perish the thought."

Thor chuckled, and leaned his forehead against Loki's back. "Must you always be scheming?"

"Must you always be stopping me?"

Thor chuckled again, a pleasing sound. He caressed his fingers along the side of Loki's neck.

Well. If Thor was determined to mind him until he reformed, might as well get it over with. "Do you... think it could be like this? They sang about me tonight. They seemed to love me, tonight."

"Our people do love you! You are the son of Odin, and the hero of many battles!"

"Do you truly think so?"

"I know so! You don't need your schemes, brother! Look at how everyone is honoring you!"

Thor never appreciated the fact that Loki could not keep up with him by brute force. He required scheming to gain power. Oh, if he followed the rules and played nice, he would stay out of trouble. But he could never fight giants.

"And father loves you. And I love you." He said the last in a low, intense voice.

Father did not love him. But Thor's love was something he never doubted. "I know you do." He made his tone vulnerable, practically shaking with his struggle to choose a path. Ha. "Help me remember, brother."

Thor took him from the hall, and into his quarters, decorated with his trophies and honors and gifts. But he left the lights low, not displaying them to Loki. He kissed Loki, finally, and Loki jerked him closer, not faking his hunger.

Loki hurriedly got Thor's armor off, hating it. Thor always found that amusing; he liked Loki just as well in armor as out. But of course he did, he could crush Loki even with his armor. Loki had little chance of physically besting his brother; without his armor on, Thor was more vulnerable to him. But Thor undressed Loki as well, taking time over it.

Thor wasted no time after that in pressing him down into the bed, kissing him fiercely, and beginning to run his hands over Loki's body.

"Please." Loki said the word softly, holding tight to Thor, surrendering to him. "Please, brother. Please help me. Please help me." The words came out desperate and lost. He knew how they would haunt his brother the next time they fought. The next time Loki did something Thor should never forgive him for. "I don't want to be lost."

He wasn't lost. Thor thought scheming and loving were in conflict, that Loki couldn't choose. But Loki could do both. He resented his brother, and plotted against him, and sometimes hated him, and loved him still. He had no difficulty holding both.

He groaned when Thor penetrated him, and Thor pressed his mouth over his, claiming him. Loki didn't have to pretend to be overwhelmed, to tremble, to feel so terribly safe and cared for. He always struggled in these moments, as the temptation to truly surrender threatened to overtake him.

It was such an enticing offer. Surrender. Give up his wicked ways, let Thor dominate him, have this forever and always. And Thor meant the silent promise so earnestly. But that wouldn't be how it would happen. If he lived by Thor's rules, and stopped his endless plotting, his powers would cease to grow, then wither away. There was only so much power that was truly contained within him. Thor imagined them fighting and ruling side by side forever. Without theft and trickery, Loki would soon be a mere illusionist with a knife. An academic. Thor would still love him, and would come to him for knowledge, but he would not rely on him to fight by his side. Indeed, Thor's own strength would weaken, without the constant challenge of a snake by his side. And Loki would go from challenge to liability, a weakness to be targeted by Asgard's enemies.

So no, he could never truly surrender to this. Even as Thor moved within him, and he clutched at strong muscles and silk sheets, and begged his brother to love him always, he knew that he would betray him again, over and over, for all time.

And as orgasm neared, and his thoughts got frantic, he knew that he needed this. Needed his brother's endless stability and efforts to control him, to stop him from reaching too far and falling from the universe. He needed the limits his brother set, to hold him together no matter how he stretched and tore at them. He would stop Thor from settling into dumb complacency, and Thor would stop him from destroying himself and all the universe with him. He knew, in just these moments, how desperately he needed his brother.

Then he groaned and came, and seconds later his brother came with a roar, the overdramatic bastard.

Thor kissed him and Loki cuddled into his embrace, enjoying the peace and safety of Thor's arms, and Thor's murmured vows of love. Soon he would get up, and use Samson to get The Golden Sphere, and see what he could do about harnessing the power of Poykotet, which would allow him to control stars. Perhaps he could get Thor sent off to fight something or another far away, where he couldn't interfere. Maybe he'd aim an asteroid or vicious war ship at Earth.

It was for his own good, really.


End file.
